Since I wrote the Enigmatic Engineering post ‘Yuichi Yokoyama’ has consistently become one of the top 5 search strings (after communist, Wolverine, Karl Marx and zombies) that have brought readers to this blog. There have been a few responses to it across the internetosphere that I wanted to mention.
First, no less an authority than Tim Hodler at Comics Comics gave a nice shout-out to the article not once but twice. I look forward to the Comics Comics dissection of Paul Pope’s Heavy Liquid a comic that influenced me a lot when it came out. Although I voted for Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, which has gotten near unanimous high praise since it came out. It would have been interesting to see a more critical take on the book (which I liked very much). On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a proper critical assessment of Heavy Liquid, so maybe it deserves the spotlight.

A couple of Noguchi Park to Yokoyma comparisons. Click to enlarge.

Tim Thornton e-mailed me a link to a PingMag post about Isamu Noguchi’s Moerenuma Park in Sapporo, Hokkaido. The park has many wonderful ‘Yokoyama’ touches, including an artificial mountain! Some of the other attractions are reminiscent of scenes from Yokoyama’s newest book The Garden. (Thanks for getting me a copy Mike!)

The amazing image on the inside of the dust jacket. Click to enlarge.

Both Tim and Jose Luis Olivares alerted me to the Yokoyama exhibition at Rappongi Crossing. I wish I had been able to see it. Fortunately Dan Nadel, a Comics Comics co-editor and Picturebox publisher, posted a few pictures of it. I hope that Picturebox will publish an english version of The Garden sometime in the near future. Since I don’t read Japanese I’m very anxious to see another meticulous translation of all the sound effects. There’s also a lot more dialogue in this book compared to New Engineering. Although, according to Luis, the dialogue is mostly descriptive of the various unusual sights the characters encounter.

Last, but not least, Simon Sellars has been kind enough to include Enigmatic Engineering among all things Ballardian. His site is the place online to watch the extensive influence of J.G. Ballard unfold… in (almost) real-time!

I’m still laboring on Part 2 of Enigmatic Engineering… but I have a good excuse. I was Momed.

Uncivilized Books

A few days remain to subscribe for our Fall 2015 offerings. Sign up by August 1st and receive Sam Alden‘s New Construction, Caitlin Skaalrud‘s Houses of the Holy and The Deaths of Henry King from super-star creative team Jesse Ball, Brian Evenson and Lille Carre. The entire bundle is $55. You may also pre-order individual titles and save on the cover price. Get it!

The cartoonist responsible for Glenn Ganges now has a column at The Comics Journal, and his inaugural effort focuses on Autoptic, Minneapolis’ only festival dedicated to independent culture. He reports on those organizing, his recent move to Minneapolis and the stomach flu. Autoptic is the weekend of August 8th and 9th. Read Huizenga’s column here.